1056A
by Raylie Knight
Summary: After the war Heero happens to run into Duo where he has least expected to find him and must try and help him get past problems that Duo's developed while trying to adjust to peaceful times.
1. Is That You?

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, or any Gundams. Robots that big haven't been invented yet.

Got a random idea sitting around at home and couldn't help myself. Let me know if you guys think it's good.

10-56A

Chapter 1: Is That You?

Duo looked down, sixteen floors was a lot more intimidating when you were looking straight down from the edge with nothing between you and the drop. But Duo wasn't scared, wasn't anxious and wasn't looking around to see who would notice. He didn't feel anything at all as a matter of fact. Just the breeze against his face, which felt nice and cool.

Duo closed his eyes, thinking, preparing himself. It's not that he was buying time so someone could stop him, it's that he was preparing himself for impact. Because impact was going to hurt. Just for a moment, but it would be filled with the sound of breaking bones, there would be blood and before he died he wasn't going to be able to breathe. He knew all these because he'd thought about it so many times, because he'd dreamt it and because he'd secretly lived through it each time looked up at any tall building.

Duo lifted his head to the sky, just one more minute and he'd be ready. Duo watched the colors flaring behind his eyes, enjoyed the tingling thrilling down his arms and the feeling of the world tilting beneath him even though he knew it wasn't moving.

He'd been trying to stay in this state of mind for so long, but really, all he was doing was avoiding the inevitable. He already knew what the end looked like, and he was ready to skip the game and go straight to finish. Fuck the rest of the world. Duo breathed in relief, soon he'd be where he belonged and all this meaninglessness could just stop.

Heero turned right, headed downtown, watching traffic driving towards him and merging quickly when there was a gap big enough for his car. Heero was going back to the Preventors building after lunch, but found his way blocked by orange cones, police tape, emergency vehicles, and an officer directing traffic around the block.

Heero would have driven right by, not having been called to the scene, either on his phone or on the radio under his dashboard. But just as he was pulling into the line that was detouring around the taped off area he glanced over and saw a hassled looking Ember Easton running her hands through her short, cropped and feathered hair. Her bangs looking frazzled and sticking that was from the sweat from standing around in the hot sun.

Heero frowned as he pulled to the side of the road where other unmarked vehicles were parked haphazardly. Ember never looked that upset, even in the middle of a gun fight she'd kept her cool at Heero's and Wu Fei's side as she covered them. Heero got out, pulled out his badge as he got to the police tape and was let by so he could quickly walk over to Ember.

"Ember, what's going on?" He asked, only worried about her and not bothering to look around for himself. He'd meant to only ask what had her so upset, but the moment she looked up, her eyes big and her mouth snapping shut, Heero instantly began to look around. A chill went down his back as her looked turned from panic to overly friendly.

"Heero" Her voice cracked in the middle of his name as she walked quickly towards him, hands out in front of her to clutch at his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you, I was driving by, back from lunch." Heero explained in clipped words, trying to see past her and finding her face right in his whenever he tried to look. "What is going on? Why are you so upset?"

"Upset, I'm not upset." Ember shook her head, her hair swinging forward and catching on her eyelashes where she batted it away impatiently. Heero gave her a look and she crumbled.

"Ok, maybe a little upset, but you should head back to the office, it's… there's a…." Ember stumbled over her words.

"Easton, hurry, did you think of anything?" Celeste came running up behind her, not seeing Heero. Her short fish tail braid flying behind her. "This guys gonna jump, he's not even responding to anything our guy says. This isn't a normal vie for attention."

"Who is going to jump?" Heero asked, pushing Ember aside, seeing what was upsetting Ember so much. It sounded as if it was someone was actually committed to attempting suicide by jumping and Ember had probably been placed in change. A mistake, Ember was good at a lot of things, but this was not one of them. Especially considering her history.

"Oh, Hi Heero." Heero balked when Celeste suddenly used the same tone as Ember upon seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

Heero looked back and forth between the two women, two women he respected and worked with on almost a daily basis. Both treating him the same with the same panicked look in their eyes and Heero knew they were keeping something from him. Something that made this scene different from all the others, something more than just a suicide, something bad.

"What is it?" Heero demanded, knowing the two women would know what he really meant.

Celeste and Ember looked at each other, Celeste nodded to Ember and Ember turned to Heero her eyes suddenly gentle and Heero suddenly felt worse than he had a moment ago. His stomach dropped out, just from the look on her face, and he was almost afraid to hear what she was about to say.

"Heero, the man on the ledge…" Ember reached out, but pulled back from the look on Heero's face. "Um… it's Duo."

Heero stared, nothing moving behind his eyes, nothing coming out of his mouth but one breath after the other. He just stared at her, willing her to take it back.

"Heero?" Celeste coaxed next to Ember and it was enough, Heero turned from the both of them and looked up where he saw someone standing on a ledge, well away from an open window, face turned up to the sky. No fear, no clutching at the building behind him. Black jeans and a red t-shirt making him stand out against the gray concrete and the tell tale braid whipping around in the wind that battered everything that high up.

Heero choked on his breath and coughed, fighting not to be sick. He didn't like this sudden onslaught of emotion, but he understood it. He felt so stupid for thinking that there was so much time ahead of him. So many chances to make his move and take his time, to ease into things. And now here he was, standing, looking up at Duo, suicidal. And he was so ashamed that he hadn't known. Hadn't known that things were this bad for his friend, that things were falling down around someone he cared so deeply for when his own life was going so well.

"Ember." Her name came out sounded breathy, like he was winded from running. But he cleared his throat, needing his next words to be heard. "Get me up there."

"What?" Ember demanded, Celeste just stared at them, ready for this to turn into a screaming match.

"Please Ember, let me talk to him." Heero's hands became fists at his side even though what he wanted to do was draw his gun and force his way up there.

"You know I can't Heero. You're too close to this, it goes against every regulation there is for this situation." Ember honestly looked conflicted, but she was sticking to the book, even if her heart was telling her not to.

"Ember, I'm the only one who's going to be able to talk him down." Heero protested.

"You don't know that." Ember countered, "You just think that, because you're too close to this situation."

Heero felt as if he'd been struck, mostly because he knew she was right, but he wouldn't let it show. He just let his shoulders slump and let himself look deflated.

"I'm sorry Heero, but I'm not bending the rules on this one." Ember turned to Celeste. "Tell them I'm on my way, I'll try talking him down myself."

"Ok." Celeste walked off, leaving Heero and Ember facing each other, each unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry Heero, maybe you'd just better get back to work." Ember tried.

"I can't." Heero admitted, but had said it quietly, hoping she hadn't heard. But Ember just nodded, understanding and not saying anything about it.

"How about you just wait here and I'll see if I can talk them into letting you come with us when we take him in." Ember waited for a nod from Heero and then sighed and walked away, towards the building that the police had locked down.

Heero watched her leave, waited a minute and then followed after her, dodging a few people he know and flashing his badge to get past security.

"Duo? Duo Maxwell?" Ember called over the wind to the figure standing on the ledge, and she felt suddenly like she'd gotten there just in time as the figure paused with one leg out, a single foot suspended over the drop like he was walking on air.

"Yes?" The man looked around and Ember was shocked by how good-looking he was for one second. His hair was coming out of its long braid down his back, whipping around his elfin shaped face, his vibrant violet eyes blazing out at her, his lithe body leaning towards the edge.

"Hi Duo, I'm Ember. Can I talk to you?" Ember asked as she leaned out the window, feeling someone adjusting their grip on her belt as she tried for a better view.

"Sure, what's up?" Duo asked, his foot coming back from its single step that would end everything. Ember wondered about how easy that had been and then a closer look showered her that the vibrant eyes were actually dazed, glazed over and looking around at anything that moved. He was distracted, calm and almost sleepy looking, dazed and all that added up to only one thing. Duo wasn't just high in the air, he was high on drugs.

"I was just wondering what you were going out here, it's pretty high up." Ember smiled as best she could at him. How long had he been high? Was he going to crash soon? Did Heero know that his friend was abusing drugs?

"I'm going to kill myself. Can we make this quick, I gotta do it soon before they get a catch set up down there." Duo smiled at here, a bit lop-sided, but he seemed so sure of himself.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could put this off for another day?" Ember asked, wondering, even as she pushed forward, how to best to approach this situation.

"No, sorry. But I think it has to be today." Duo apologized and got ready again to make his final leap, totally ignoring her.

"No wait…" Ember called out, suddenly ready to reach out and grab him, not for Duo's sake, but for her friend, Heero.

But another voice suddenly overtook hers and made Duo not only stop, but turn around and stare at the figure that was leaning out the window in front of her.

"Duo, Stop." Heero yelled, his hand and arm out the window, reaching for Duo, willing him back, trying to keep eye contact as confusion washed over Duo's face.

"Please stop." Heero asked and Ember could only stare at him in surprise, Heero never lied. Never went back on his word. She had trusted him to stay where he'd agreed to down on the street. He'd looked crestfallen, but had given up.

And now, for this man, staring back at them, in surprise and hesitating where he'd been sure before, for this man Heero was where he shouldn't be. Despite his promise, despite his job and despite all the consequences. Ember had never seen Heero like this, and it threw everything she knew into the wind, right where Duo had been determined to go just a second ago.

"Heero?" Ember was surprised to hear the change in Duo's voice. It was clearer, more in control and full of recognition that actually made him take a step towards the window. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Heero almost laughed, relief clear in all his body language. Ember started to ease back out of the window. Obviously Heero was going to have a lot more luck then she'd thought. And even through she knew there was going to be trouble for this, right now their objective was to get Duo inside.

"What are you doing here?" Duo asked, trying to think clearly through his drug haze and not really succeeding.

"I came to see you." Heero smiled the best he could, unsure of how it would look, but pleading with his eyes. "Can you come here so we can talk?"

Duo looked around, as if looking for something he'd dropped or an appointment book as if he'd forgotten some important day. "Uh… sure, I guess."

"Great." Heero smiled and reached out, watching with eager breaths and anxious muscles as Duo tottered over to the window. Fighting everything inside not to reach out too early and grab him.

But as soon as Duo's hand was in his he pulled Duo almost violently though the window and wound up falling backwards onto the ground with Duo clutched tightly in his arms. His breathing fast and heavy and his heart thumping out a hard cadence.

"Hi Heero, how're you?" Duo asked from where his face was pressed into Heero's chest.

"Better now." Heero closed his eyes tightly and let out a sigh. Duo was still alive and even though they were going to have to take him back to the station now, the fact that he wasn't sixteen stories down on the pavement made it bearable.


	2. When Did You Get Here?

**Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, or any Gundams. Robots that big haven't been invented yet.**

**Here's chapter two since I'm having problems with BtG. **

**10-56A**

**Chapter 2: When did you get here?**

**Heero sat at his desk staring across it at Duo who was sitting in the extra chair in his office. It was disturbing to see Duo this way. Celeste and Ember where trying to get Duo's file away from some men downstairs who wanted Duo committed to a hospital. Celeste had said something about feminine wiles, but Heero hadn't been paying that much attention. He was baffled just sitting here and watching Duo.**

**Heero couldn't remember ever seeing him under the influence of drugs. Maybe pain medication, but Duo had been in such pain that the drugs had only half worked, and they hadn't had this kind of effect on him.**

"**Duo?" Heero asked, trying to get his attention and trying to figure out what to do next.**

"**Hey Heero," Duo smiled at him, looking up from where he'd been playing with a pen and Heero's sticky note pad. "When did you get here?"**

**Heero would have been taken aback, but Duo had already asked that in the car ride over and when they'd fist sat down. As it was, he just pressed on. "Where did you get the drugs?"**

"**Where I always get them. But I'm not supposed to tell you." Duo said matter 'o factly.**

"**Why not?" Heero asked, confused.**

"**Because, you'll think less of me. You all would." Duo looked a little sad as he stared down at his hands. "You, Wu Fei, Quatre, you, Trowa, Wu Fei, Quatre, you…"**

**Heero cut him off, seeing where this was going. "I'm sorry Duo." He was surprised that the words had come out, he'd meant to say something about how they wouldn't think less of him. But as usual, Duo was right. He always had been able to read people, but even Heero know what his fellow Gundam Pilots would think of Duo's drug abuse.**

"**That's ok. I'm hiding it from you pretty well, no one suspects a thing." Duo smiled at him and it was like a punch in the gut to Heero. Just how long had Duo been hiding this? What had caused him to turn to drugs in the first place? Heero almost groaned out loud. He was right, the five of them met for dinner at least once every two weeks, if not every week. If this had been going on a while, then not one of them had suspected a thing from the way Duo had covered his tracks.**

"**Duo, I don't think you should hide it anymore." Heero said, watching quietly as Duo turned back to doodling on his note pad.**

"**But I have to." Duo muttered. He started scribbling really hard.**

"**But why?" Heero asked, he felt as if the world around him were slipping from his grasp. He wished Wu Fei were here to help instead of away on a mission to confiscate illegally transported weapons.**

**Duo didn't answer, just kept scribbling. "Duo?" Heero prodded for a response.**

"**Oh Hi Heero, when did you get here?" Duo asked, looking up and breaking into a smile that near broke Heero down to yelling. Luckily he was saved from that.**

"**Got it, took a while, but Celeste here also got a date out of it." Ember smiled big, walking in with a thick folder.**

"**Good, let's get this over with quickly, we need to get Duo out of here." Heero rubbed his forehead, moving his bangs out of his eyes. "I also need to call Quatre, maybe he can help me get Duo what he needs."**

"**Sure Heero, hold on." Ember plopped the folder down on Heero's desk and Celeste excused herself to stand guard outside.**

**Heero would have minded almost anyone else looking through this folder with him, but Ember had been a good friend for a long time. They'd started working together when Heero had fist joined Preventors, Ember was specialized in drug trafficking and had the same ranking as Heero and Wu Fei. They made a good team, they'd only ever been missing a demolitions specialist. But Heero had never been able to convince Duo to join, or even get a reason as to why Duo didn't want to be an agent. But right now, he needed Ember as a friend, not just a coworker. And he was glad that their work relationship had grown outside of work to form a strong friendship. Ember even joined him at the shooting range a couple times a month.**

"**Uh, Heero?" She was also one of the few people who knew how Heero truly felt about Duo, he'd confessed to her by accident, but… "Heero."**

**Heero's head snapped up and he scolded himself for not paying attention. "What?"**

"**Uh… Well, you're not… you're not Duo's emergency contact." Ember pointed to the document in front of them. Heero stared at the strange name sitting there on the paper where a part of him strongly felt that his name should be. "In fact, it's not even another pilot."**

**Ember was pulling out her phone while Heero swiveled in his chair to look up the name on his computer. But he was interrupted by Duo suddenly thrusting out his hand with a fist full of sticky notes clutched in it, an obvious offering to Heero.**

"**Oh, thank you Duo." Heero returned the big smile Duo gave him, wondering what it felt like to be that carefree, and when Duo had started relying on substances to help him feel how Heero had always thought he felt naturally.**

**Heero looked down and stared at the scribbles on the papers for a good five seconds, recognition slapping him in the face. Then he looked back up at Duo, who was back down to drawing Gundam schematics on the paper in front of him.**

"**I'm going to call her, we should have checked the emergency contact earlier, maybe this," Ember looked down and read the name off the paper as she dialed, "Kitty Phillips, knows something."**

**Heero snapped back to his current mission and typed the name into his computer, and found a wrap sheet just as Ember got an answer on her phone. She had it turned up so Heero could hear and he listened intently as he also read Kitty Phillips' police record on his computer.**

"**Hello?" A very groggy voice answered the phone. **

"**Hello, is this Kitty Phillips? My Name is Ember Easton and I'm calling in regards to Duo Maxwell." Ember's voice was quiet but firm, a lot of people would talk to her when thye wouldn't talk to Heero or Wu Fei. But the voice on the other end of the line mumbled.**

"**Duo? Yeah, ok, hold on, I'll get him." There was a thump followed by a lot of rustling.**

"**No, m'am, wait, I'm calling-" Ember tried to get her attention again, but the voice came back on it's own.**

"**Yeah, he's not here. I'll take a message or whatever, or you can call back when he is here." Heero watched Duo's face, sure that Duo could hear the voice too, and very worried that Duo didn't seem to be at all concerned as to what was going on around him. Something that was dangerous and went against the very grain of the solider he was.**

"**No, Miss Phillips, Duo Maxwell is here with me, I wanted to ask you if-" Cut off again.**

"**Well if he's with you, why're you calling here?" Kitty Phillips had not been too friendly to start out with and Duo could hear the anger rising in Ember's voice as well.**

"**Please listen, I need to know how you know Duo." Ember ordered.**

"**I'm his roommate." The voice snapped back and Ember and Heero exchanged surprised looks.**

**Heero had been under the impression that Duo lived alone, and he'd told Ember that, now they looked at each other, stumped. Ember floundered for control.**

"**Well, he's here at Preventor headquarters and we need to know-" Ember actually growled when she was interrupted this time.**

"**Oh, why didn't you say so, give me the address, I'll come get him." The voice sounded more awake now.**

**Heero shook his head 'no' at Ember and pointed at his computer to show that this was a bad idea.**

"**Oh, no. That is all right Miss Phillips, we'll be sure to see that he get's home safe." Ember said really quickly, reaching for the off button on her phone.**

"**Bull shi-" And she cut Kitty Phillips off with a flick of her thumb.**

"**Jeeze, Sorry Heero, but are you sure Duo-" Ember started.**

"**He'll be ok, he's just having some trouble. We'll help him. I'll help him." Heero insisted.**

"**Hey, now don't you start cutting me off now" Ember snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.**

"**It's very impolite." Duo spoke up from where he was bent over his work.**

**Heero sighed, it reminded him too much of when Duo had been trying to teach him 'social interaction' during the war. But he was drawing plans to a Gundam that didn't even exist anymore.**

"**Do you thing the drugs are inducing flashbacks?" Heero asked Ember.**

"**Hard to tell, you'd have to be the one to say so, I didn't know any of you beyond three years ago." Ember shrugged.**

**Heero nodded and kept staring as Ember's phone rang. She answered automatically as they all did.**

"**Easton."**

"**Hey, don't you hang up on me" The voice shouted through the ear piece and Heero looked up alarmed. Ember's eyes were wide and mad.**

"**I'm sorry Miss Phillips, but we don't need your help. It's best if you just wait at home for Mr. Maxwell's return." Ember tried, but it didn't work.**

"**Forgot about caller ID didn't ya? Well never mind, I'm coming down there to get him, so don't you dare stick him behind bars, I'll be down there in ten minutes." And the phone was hung up again, this time from the other end.**

"**Damn." Ember cursed, "I'll try and head her off, you should try and get him to eat." Ember motioned at Duo, Heero just nodded and watched her leave.**

"**That was Kitty." Duo said, still looking down at his drawings. Filling the exact numbers next to each small diagram.**

"**Yes it was." Heero was torn between taking Duo to the lounge for some food, and keeping him here so no one else would see him like this.**

"**She'll put up my bail." Duo nodded at the paper.**

"**Duo, you're not in jail." Heero tried to explain, but Duo just suddenly stood.**

"**Oh, then I can leave." Duo started towards the door and Heero had to jump out of his chair and run in front of him to cut him off.**

"**No, Duo." Heero shouted panicked, but Duo just stopped, as he had before when Heero had called out to him. "Sorry, but you need to stay here with me."**

**Duo stared at him, as if trying to work something out. But then he just shrugged and sat back down. But he didn't pick up the pen again. "When did you get here?" He asked Heero and Heero slumped into his chair with a sigh.**

"**I've been here Duo." He mumbled, sure that Duo couldn't hear him.**

"**But I would have noticed." Duo sounded worried, and Heero glanced up between his disheveled bangs. "Wouldn't I?" Heero really looked at Duo this time, waiting.**

**Duo looked so lost, worried, still slightly dazed, but his eyes seemed clearer. But shadows, like bruises were also forming under his eyes and his skin seemed pale now.**

"**Duo?" Heero asked, worry making him want to rush Duo to a hospital, but he couldn't seem to get his feet to move. "What were you doing on that ledge?"**

"**Ledge?" Duo looked panicked, his eyes darted around, checking to see if anyone else were still there. And then a magnificent smile appeared on his face. "Ledge, Heero, what are you talking about? Why would I be out on a ledge? Is this a joke of some kind?"**

**The laugh that went with the last question sounded so genuine, it made Heero want to forget everything, to believe that Duo was just fine. As he always insisted he was, as Heero had always believed him to be. But this façade was also a red flag in Heero's head.**

**If Duo was able to act this well on a seconds notice, then maybe the drug abuse had been going on even longer than he had guessed. In fact, there was no way of telling just how long Duo had been addicted, weeks, months? Years? Heero felt as if he might throw up.**

"**Heero? You don't look so good, you feeling ok?" Duo asked and Heero was so confused. Weren't people supposed to crash hard coming off of a high? Weren't they supposed to want more, to crave and do anything to get another fix. He'd read that some got overly emotional and others shut down completely. But Duo looked like he always did, just tired and distracted.**

"**Duo…" Heero couldn't get the words out, they were stuck in his throat, choking him.**

"**Heero?" Duo gave a good natured half laugh and smiled at him, head tilted slightly in curiosity.**

"**I'm sorry." Heero finally go out.**

"**For what Heero?" Duo looked confused, worried… about him.**

"**For not seeing you." Heero said sadly. **

"**But you can see me Heero, you're the only one who ever really has." Duo looked shocked at his own words, as if he wanted to take them back, as if he hadn't meant to say that at all.**

**They stared at each other in the quiet room, Heero's neat office, kept obsessively clean. Duo, his hair still falling out of it's braid and looking worse by the minute, but still as cheerful as Heero had ever seen him. Still pretending everything was just fine. And Heero, a ragged mess by now, from running his hands through his hair too often, his clothes disheveled from pulling Duo off the ledge. They just sat and stared, both unsure, both hiding things. They might as well have been miles apart.**

"**I failed you." Heero whispered.**


	3. Why Are You Here?

**Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, or any Gundams. Robots that big haven't been invented yet.**

**Ok, it's kind of sad that I still can't remember my plans for BtG! And now I really want to remember instead of coming up with something else! So since this one is off to a good start, we'll keep it going. At least until I can remember where I wanted BtG to go. **

**10-56A**

**Chapter 3: Why Are You Here?**

**Heero kept a close watch as Duo finally peeked through his drug haze and looked back at him. It would be an amazing transformation to watch, if it hadn't been the man he'd been so desperately in love with for so many years.**

"**Uh, Heero?" Duo finally put the pen down and sat back in the extra chair, looking around as if for the first time. "Can I go home now?"**

**Heero had the grace to look ashamed, "Sorry, no. I'm supposed to keep you here." Heero nervously explained.**

"**Oh" Duo looked taken aback. "Can I ask why?"**

**Heero really wondered how much Duo remembered. "Um… you were standing out on a ledge of a very tall building." Heero explained.**

**Duo looked as if he'd just remembered something, but underneath it Heero could see the doubt, the uncertainty. He'd seen it a dozen times during the war, Duo has always been good at hiding fear, at hiding his lack of knowledge. And there it was, behind his eyes as Duo smiled at him.**

"**So, they try and put me in a ward yet?"**

"**No, I'm keeping you here until we can get that taken care of." Heero was surprised as how firm his voice was, and apparently so was Duo.**

"**Heero, it's standard procedure, you can't just wipe 'crazy' off the record and expect no one to notice." Duo smiled at him sadly.**

"**I'll fix this." Heero tried to reassure him.**

"**Heero-" Duo started to argue when there was a loud bang of a door outside followed by loud voice arguing.**

"**Just let me see him, you're supposed to release him when I come to get him." A female voice that Heero didn't know, followed by Ember's.**

"**We're holding him right now, we have to keep him in custody due to circumstances-"**

"**Oh screw your circumstances." The door to Heero's office swung open. "Duo, get up, we're leaving."**

**Heero stared, in had walked a blonde woman, just a few years older than Duo, her hair pulled back in a very messy pony tail, clothes hanging off of her, a button down white shirt and black pants, both clearly dirty. Her shoes were on, but not tied with mismatched socks peeking out from under her pants. There were dark marks under her eyes and she had shifty, right green eyes and a slight twitch to her that had her in almost constant movement.**

**Duo actually started to stand up and Heero was very surprised to see a look of relief on his face.**

"**I told you he can't leave." Ember reached out and grabbed the arm of Kitty Phillips who then twisted her arm out of the hard grasp.**

"**Duo, we're going." Kitty reached out to grab Duo and Heero found himself suddenly standing and everyone looking at him when his chair slammed back on the floor.**

**He recovered quickly. "He's not leaving."**

"**Yes. He. Is." Kitty leaned forward and took a hold of Duo and started to pull them both back towards the door.**

**Ember stepped in front of them and blocked the path. Heero came around the desk and came to stand next to Duo, and being suddenly in her proximity he could smell the smoke on her that wasn't cigarettes. Heero made the connection, Kitty wasn't just Duo's roommate, she was his dealer.**

"**Ember, I think Miss Phillips here needs some coffee, I still have to pull up Duo's records, why don't you…" Heero paused as he realized he'd need Ember for the report since she'd been the Lead on site.**

**Celeste's head appeared behind Ember. "I'll take her."**

**Both Ember and Heero turned towards Celeste as she pushed her way into the room, a shy smile on her face, looking only at Kitty. Ember looked at Heero and they exchanged a look, Ember raising one eyebrow, Heero really surprised. Celeste's attention for Kitty practically screaming her intentions.**

"**Sure Celeste, why don't you take Kitty here to the break room." Ember couldn't help the small smile as Celeste swept her arm out to escort Kitty out of the room and didn't even bother to hide it as she watched Kitty's ass as they left.**

**Heero didn't know how to react to suddenly finding that out about Celeste, so he just went back to the problem at hand and his own love life. "Duo," He got Duo looking back at him now from staring after Kitty kind of like a life line that had just been pulled out of his grasp.**

"**Yeah?" Duo asked as he put on a mask so fast that Heero almost hadn't caught it, but he recognized the tactic. He'd had too much practice from watching Duo throughout the war, when he'd thought he'd never live to see the end of the fighting. Now the war was over, an still he hadn't made any move to…**

"**I need you to pay attention while we go over this report." Heero directed as Ember came around with a file and they both started going over the report. No use dwelling on it now. Right now Duo needed him as a Preventor agent, but Duo's actions were any indication, he couldn't ignore things in his personal life anymore.**

**Duo realized about half way through that they were smudging stuff over and changing things so that Duo wasn't about to be required to have a psyche evaluation. And though he felt guilty for letting Heero do this for him, while he knew it wasn't right, he also really didn't want to end up in a nut house. So he let them, let them save him from a padded room and just filled out the forms as they asked him to.**

**Duo started to feel the burn as they were going over the last few papers in the report. It started in his gut and behind his eyes. A kind of hungry feeling in his stomach and a sting in his eyes that made his eyes want to water, made him want to close them against the harsh light. Things around him focused in and out of clarity, but he ignored it as Heero passed him the last papers to sign. He knew these symptoms all too well and knew that they'd only go away if he got out of here and got a dose from Kitty. So he signed papers and wrote down his address and his contact info one last time while he hid his cravings from the people standing over him.**

"**Please tell me that's the last one." Duo laughed as he pushed the signed paper back at Heero across the desk and set the pen down.**

**Heero picked it up distractedly and filed it with the rest of the papers, tapping them on the desk to align the edges. "Yes… that should be it."**

"**So then…I can go?" Duo pushed, feeling the urge in him tighten his gut and make a tremor start in his hands that he was going to have a hard time hiding if he stayed too long.**

**Ember and Heero looked up at him at the same time with the same expressions. "What?" Ember asked at the same time Heero said a firm "No."**

"**But, you said-" Duo started to protest.**

"**I said I would fix it so you wouldn't need a psyche evaluation, I didn't say you could just go back to this… this… lifestyle you've chosen as if nothing had happened." Heero surprised even himself as his volume increased as he spoke.**

**Duo stared at Heero, he couldn't remember seeing Heero so upset, ever. He'd seen him mad, sure, but this was different. Heero never lost it like this, even when he'd punched Duo he'd still maintained a calm exterior. This was just… weird.**

"**Heero, I have to go home. I do have a job to get to." Duo tried giving Heero an easy smile to assure him, to ease the tension, but it only seemed to piss Heero off more.**

"**No, you can't go to work, you can't leave. We need to talk." Heero slammed his hand down on his desk to emphasize his point.**

"**And that sounds fun, but you can't keep me here. I really have to go Heero. But it was great seeing you again." Duo very quickly stood up and bolted for the door. Ember and Heero were left staring at a swinging door and an empty chair.**

"**Shit." Ember cursed as both she and Heero took off after him.**

**They ran, Ember following Heero's lead, hoping that he knew where Duo was going to go. It was a big building, lots of places to back track and lose someone.**

"**Duo, damnit!" Heero shouted as he caught the end of a braid jerking around the edge of a corner in the hallway. Duo was actually full out running. "Don't do this! Please!" Heero called after him. And he thought he saw Duo falter, but a moment later Duo was running even faster and Heero was about to lose him to a stairwell.**

**Then they saw the door ahead of Duo open and Kitty was holding it wide, a big smile across her face, urging Duo on to were the stairs would lead them down and out of Preventor Headquarters.**

"**Duo." Heero called out, trying one last time to keep Duo there, he just needed to talk to him, if he could just put aside his pride, his fear, and tell Duo that he loved him, if he could just…**

**Duo disappeared through the door as it slammed after him and a loud bang assured Heero, even before he reached the door, that they wouldn't be following after him.**

**Duo ran with Kitty, down the stairs and out the building. Ran to Kitty's car and jumped in so that Kitty could get them out of there.**

"**How'd you ditch your guard?" Duo asked as he breathed heavily and glanced behind them for a tail.**

"**Asked where I could make a call and locked her in the room." Kitty smirked at Duo. "A shame she's a Preventor, she was… sweet."**

**Duo laughed, Kitty was hellfire in leather boots, he almost pitied the woman who she would end up with.**

"**How ya doin'?" Kitty asked as she turned the car south, back towards their apartment. "That was some morning stroll you took."**

"**Fine. I'm fine." Duo assured her, scratching the inside of his elbow as he looked out the window, away from Kitty.**

"**Don't pull that shit with me, you're thirsty," Kitty's word for a craving. Duo didn't make eye contact, he was distracted. Heero had said 'please.'**

"**Just wait a little bit hon, I didn't bring any with me just in case, so everything is back at the apartment just now. You know, you owe me big this time for…" Kitty's voice trailed off as Duo lost interest after she admitted to not having anything on her. Which made sense, she'd come to get him at Preventor HQ, if they'd found anything on her, well, it would have been a stupid move to bring a stash, no matter how bad Duo was crashing.**

**But Heero had said 'please', he'd sounded… desperate? No, that wasn't right. He'd sounded… sad? Maybe. Any emotion was odd for Heero. But apparently not anymore. That was baffling. The last time Duo had seen Heero… well, it'd been awkward. At least for him. Duo felt shame at the memory, he felt his jaw clench even as he thought about it. Why was he always saying things he didn't mean to!? Was there no filter between his brain and mouth?**

**Duo slammed his head back on the seats headrest and let Kitty's voice drone on, almost like music in the background. Or like hearing someone from a different room, only hearing the sound of their voice, not their words. It would have done him no good to stay and talk with Heero, there was nothing to talk about. Duo told himself firmly so he wouldn't spend the rest of the day thinking about it. Even if Heero had changed, it wouldn't ever be enough. Heero would never change that much…**

**Duo swallowed hard and closed his eyes against the afternoon sun. What he really needed to do was to figure out a way to stop ending up on top of buildings, or in construction sites, or on the dock, or places where his drug haze always seemed to take him these days. It was getting ridiculous, and dangerous.**

**Duo pushed down feelings that sprung up when he thought too hard about why he kept ending up in these places. He was fine. Perfectly fine on his own, he didn't need Heero anymore. Not his friendship or his charity. Duo was fine, with Kitty, and he was going to be late to work, but that was a completely different matter.**

"**Damnit!" Heero slammed his fists down on his desk, feeling it shudder under him with a little satisfaction. Ember was gone, trying to get a picture of Kitty's plates so they could track her car.**

"**What's wrong?" A low, calm voice asked from the doorway. Heero looked up and met Trowa's eyes. He didn't say anything at first, was still too upset. But Trowa deserved to know.**

"**I saw Duo today." Heero admitted and watched as Trowa's visible eyebrow shot up, the only clue that he was surprised.**

"**Is he alright?" Trowa asked, instantly clued in to how upset he was.**

"**No." Heero shook his head, "No, he's not alright. And now he's gone." Heero waited for Trowa to say something, but he just walked further into the room and leaned against the edge of Heero's desk.**

"**What am I going to do?" Heero finally asked, not really expecting an answer.**

"**Help him." Trowa answered, almost automatically.**

"**And if he won't accept my help?" Heero asked, running his hands through his messy hair.**

"**None of us ever wants to accept help. Even if we know we need it." Trowa smiled quietly. "There's a lot of pride there. But I'm sure you'll figure it out. He always did call you his best friend."**

"**Yes, until I messed everything up." Heero mulled.**

**Trowa reached out and put a strong hand on his friend's shoulder, comforting. "You'll figure it out." He reassured Heero, who just sighed and tried to brush it off. But Trowa knew his friend. And he knew Duo, and he smiled to himself thinking: it's about time.**


	4. Where Did You Go?

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, or any Gundams. Robots that big haven't been invented yet.

It's my birthday! So here's a present for you! Kinda backwards, I know, but I think it works. There's a bit of a back and forth thing going on here, so bear with me through all the scene changes. doesn't like to space my story like I do in my word processor.

10-56A

Chapter 4: Where did you go?

"If you didn't find him in all these years prior, what makes you think you'll be able to track him down now?" Trowa asked Heero as he watched him going through records.

"Because I didn't know where to look before now, I was merely doing a general search of where I thought he might be. Now I have a definite idea." Heero said distractedly over his shoulder. He had Duo's papers that he'd just filled out set beside his computer as he searched.

0000

"You gave them false information, right?" Kitty demanded as they pulled up in front of the apartment they shared.

"Of course I did. I may be high, but I'm not stupid." Duo sneered at her as he got out of the car.

0000

"Damn." Heero had known it'd been a long shot, but it had been worth a try.

"You didn't actually think he'd…" Trowa started to say.

"I know." Heero snapped back as he trashed that search and started a fresh one.

0000

"We still have a problem though." Duo admitted to Kitty as they climbed the stairs and she let them inside.

"Oh? What's that?" Kitty shut the door behind her with more force than necessary.

"Well, remember how I told you I don't like to talk about my past?" Duo turned away from her, avoiding eye contact. He hid the gesture by starting to change out of his cloths into his work uniform.

0000

"Now that I know what kind of lifestyle he leads I know where to start looking for the trail." Heero typed fast as he bypassed all the previous sections he'd looked into. He was surprised that Duo had turned up in this city, it made things a lot easier. Before now he'd had all of Earth and Space to look through, now it was just a matter of checking the part of town he normally wouldn't have looked at with Duo in mind.

"Where were you looking before?" Trowa asked, not bothering to tell Heero that he was using his phone as they spoke to contact Quatre and Wu Fei.

"I was looking for him by trying to figure out what type of job he would choose. It was pretty obvious he wouldn't buy a house or rent an apartment with his real name." Heero tossed over his shoulder. "But none of my previous searches gave me results."

0000

"So, what does that mean? Do we need to move? Do I need to get us papers?" Kitty put her arm across his doorframe, blocking him in. Not that he couldn't knock her aside easily, but it was a bit distracting to have someone blocking his only exit while he was changing.

"Well, that guy, the one whose office you found me in? That was Heero Yuy." Duo explained while pulling on his polo and exchanging his jeans for khakis.

"Your war buddy? So?" Kitty slouched, her dirty shirt bunching up at her back as she rubbed her eyes. He'd had her attention, now he'd lost it again.

"So I have a feeling he's not going to give up just because we gave him the slip." Duo searched for clean socks and a few pills to pop to get him through the day while Kitty continued to slip closer and closer to the floor.

"And this means what to me? He's just a Preventor, big whop."

"It means that we have an ex Gundam pilot searching for us now. One who is very stubborn and the only one I know who can out hack me." Duo stood over her, pills tucked in his cheek, waiting for water so they could start their journey into his blood stream.

"Shit." Kitty slurred from the ground. She was now sitting in his door frame, and she still didn't looked as worried as Duo knew they needed to be.

0000

"Did you check computer stores? Big companies? You know I have a list of some of the alias' he used to use." Trowa asked as windows pulled up on Heero's computer in quick succession before he dismissed them.

"I know what names he used, I already ran those. But I don't think he'd still use the same ones." Heero growled. He was growing more and more frustrated by the minute.

"What if he's not working with computers?" Trowa asked in a quiet voice, hoping to inspire patience in his friend.

"Then I don't know." Heero barked back and his hands stopped moving on his keyboard. His shoulders slumped. "And I just lost him again."

0000

"Come on, time for sleep." Duo bent down and helped Kitty up, guiding her towards her bedroom and waiting bed. He helped her out of her pants and into bed. She'd change her top when she woke up. "I'm going to work now, I'll bring home dinner."

"Ok." Kitty whispered to her pillow as she curled up under her covers. Duo sighed heavily. The bags under her eyes were getting worse and she was skinnier than ever. Duo blew his bangs out of his face and left for work.

0000

"This is useless. Duo was always the best at hiding and blending in. I'll never find him, not without a clue." Heero growled.

"We'll find him." Trowa spoke with confidence. But looking at Heero, he felt his own hopes dieing anew. "You saw him today? Where?"

"Here. Ember's team… Well, I was there too… but they found him on top of…" Heero was finding it hard to say, as if it'd never happened.

"You found him…" Trowa started the sentence again for him and Heero could tell he was just worrying Trowa more.

"We found him on the ledge of the sixteenth story of a building downtown." Heero just spat it out, inwardly cringing at how it sounded coming out of his mouth. He looked up to see Trowa staring at him unbelievingly. "We brought him back here and called his emergency contact. She came and got him and they left."

0000

"Hey Paden?" A hearty voice called from the back of the Animal Shelter Duo worked at. "That you?"

"Yeah it's me." Duo Paden, the name he worked under. A nice history of a good family, previous jobs and no record from the war to follow him around.

"Will you watch the front?" Dagston asked as he peeked out from his office. "I have some paperwork and it's not gonna wait."

"Sure I got it." Duo smiled brightly as he punched into the time clock and then took his place behind the main counter as a couple walked in. He felt great, his pills were kicking in and someone was going to get adopted. Life was awesome. And bright. And colorful. It was just awesome.

0000

"That's not the worst of it." Heero admitted as she stared down at his hands. Trowa was on one knee next to his chair now.

"What is it?" Trowa asked, now glad that he'd sent a message to Wu Fei who worked for the Preventors as well and was on his way.

"The woman who came to get him. The one he lives with. Kitty Phillips." Heero started and took a few deep breaths before he pushed on. "She's his drug dealer."

Trowa stared at him as if Heero had just punched him for no apparent reason. "Drug dealer?"

"He was high Trowa. He kept forgetting where he was, kept asking when I'd gotten there. I was sitting across from him the whole time." Heero felt like the whole building was crashing down around him as he relieved it all over in his head. He shouldn't have let Duo go, shouldn't have smudged those reports.

"If he was high and about to commit suicide, why did you let him walk out of here, Heero? Why didn't you get him to the hospital and up to psyche?" Trowa asked calmly, trying not to sound accusatory.

"I couldn't" Heero looked up at him for the first time in minutes. "I couldn't send him there Trowa, I couldn't. Do you know what would have happened to him! With his background? Do you know what they would have done the moment they found out he was abusing drugs and suicidal?"

"Yes I do." Trowa replied calmly. "They would have tried to help him."

"They would have locked him away, Trowa. Forever. It's what they'd do with any of us. No one can afford to have a Gundam Pilot running around with no self control. Imagine what he could have done had he had a flash back of the war." Heero snapped at Trowa, panic and a need for Trowa to understand making his voice strained and higher than it should have been.

"He is right, you know." Wu Fei said from the door.

0000

Duo waved goodbye to the happy couple with the female retriever. She'd been beautiful and had deserved a good home. And now she had one. The world was wonderful. Now if he could just get some kids in here, they could all play with puppies. Playing with puppies was the best!

He didn't even care that on his best days Dagston probably thought he was "special", it was worth it to see puppies go home with happy kids. It was awesome. And it meant everything would be alright with the world. If only everyone could feel that free and happy with an animal. A new pet showed people their true selves, caring for another life always brought out the best in people.

Ok, well maybe not everyone. They got abused pets in here all the time, and that was just sad. Sad and pathetic, that someone needed to kick a poor, helpless creature to feel better about themselves.

They didn't deserve pets. Or cake! He would make sure those people never got another animal, or piece of cake, ever again! They just took advantage of what they were given and it was wrong.

"Paden." a voice snapped behind him and Duo turned to see Dagston standing behind him. "Time to feed everyone."

"Ok." Duo smiled bright and went to the back to start serving everyone lunch, which would lead right into cleaning up after everyone. A necessary part of life and part of the job. He didn't mind. It paid enough for him to stay with Kitty.

Come to think of it, that dog had the same color fur as Kitty's hair.

0000

"Wu Fei?" Trowa stood and gave his friend a stern look.

"What Yuy is saying is true. I'm not going to help you lie to him just to make him feel better. That is precisely what would have happened to Maxwell if he'd been handed over to a psyche ward." Wu Fei joined their private meeting in Heero's office.

"Regardless, why did you let Duo go Heero?" Trowa asked again.

"I didn't, that woman took him. Kitty Phillips. They escaped together." Heero explained how it had happened and felt embarrassed as they both gave him condescending looks. "He didn't look like he was about to… he was still high when… I… I give up." Heero held out his hands as if to push his words away and slumped back into his chair. He was tired of explaining himself.

"Have you checked with Agent Easton to see if you were able to get the plates of the car they left in?" Wu Fei asked.

"No." Heero muttered.

"I will check that." Wu Fei dismissed himself and left Heero alone with Trowa again.

"I just wanted to help him." Heero whispered to Trowa, everything unraveling before his eyes.

"I know. I want the same thing, friend. But we'll need to find him before we can help him." Trowa smiled gently. "I'll help you look. There must be some way to find him. If not him, then maybe we can find this Kitty Phillips he's taken up with."

Heero nodded, barely hearing him. Instead, memories plagued him. Maybe if he hadn't failed as a friend, none of this would have happened anyway. It'd been his fault, all these years Duo had suffered for his mistakes, his short comings. And he hadn't known, he'd thought Duo was doing fine, that he'd merely been avoiding all of them but living happily. But that thought was cut short as he heard Trowa's words in his head and finally understood them.

"What did you say?" Heero suddenly sat up.

"I said maybe we could try looking for the woman instead, Kitty Phillips?" Trowa repeated himself, surprised at the look on Heero's face.

"You're right, that's it." Heero nodded, his voice low. He looked lost in thought before he whipped back around to his computer, "She's the key!"


	5. What's Your Name?

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not belonging to me, now or ever, and it makes me sad and makes this a fanfiction

Ok, got a request for more of this fic, so here it is! Enjoy.

10-56A

Chapter 5: What's Your Name?

Duo was feeling the pills wear off, it was a sort of downward spiral that dropped his stomach out of his body and made his skin itch. He was already off of work and standing in the canned food isle of the supermarket down the street from the apartment he shared with Kitty.

He had to choose and get home. Kitty would be up by now, probably getting ready to hit the streets and sell. He had to get home and feed her before then otherwise she wouldn't eat. And with all she did for him, the least he could do was make sure she remembered to eat.

He picked out some ravioli and corn and hurried to the front of the store. His left leg starting to twitch and the inside of his arm felt as if bugs were crawling around under his skin. He paid and grabbed the plastic bag and jogged back to the apartment. He was sweating by the time he got there and had to walk up the stairs while catching his breath.

He could feel the craving like a stranger inside his skin, like someone else was moving his limbs and he was just attached. It was like the body wasn't really his, but felt like it should be. It felt like he only remembered how to move and there was a delay in wanting to do something and actually doing it.

Duo finally reached the apartment, a third flood walk up, and pulled out his keys. He had keys that went here, keys for past apartments, keys for a safe house, keys for the shelter and keys that went to somewhere, if only he could remember.

Duo shook as he opened the door, but it gave way eventually and he stepped into darkness. The only light came in through the far porch doors, orange from the street light. Duo started towards the kitchen, he'd get Kitty to eat, he'd get his night dose and he'd-

"What's your name?" A voice asked him from the vicinity of the front door. Had they just been behind the door? How had he not known that?

"Who are you?" Duo demanded.

"You Duo Paden?" The man demanded, walking towards him. He dwarfed Duo by at least a foot.

"How did you get in?" Duo asked, thought it was pretty obvious. He started backing towards the porch sliding door. If he could get there he had an escape route, he'd find Kitty and-

"I'll take that as a "yes", you're coming with us." The man reached out with a ham sized hand for Duo and he simply reacted, dropping down and kicking out with his right leg.

It connected with the mans ear perfectly and he howled out as u rolled over backwards and started to stand and make his way for his escape.

He was stopped by Kitty's scream of pain. He whipped around, frozen in place to the ugly carpet, arms out, ready to ward off blows.

Kitty was in the doorframe of her room, but she wasn't standing. She wasn't on the floor either, she was somehow suspended in between the two. That shouldn't have been possible.

She moved forward, her feet dragging oddly on the ground, she was trying to support her own weight, but something was keeping her from doing so. Then Duo saw the other man, the one holding her up, by her broken arm. No way was her arm twisting like that and not broken.

Duo felt his throat go dry, he was starving for a hit and this was happening now. His head was buzzing and he couldn't think of what to do.

"Just come with us, it's not really on you. It's her we want. But the boss said to grab anyone who was with her." The man who had originally tried to grab him suddenly slapped his meaty hand down on Duo's shoulder, causing Duo to tilt to one side almost losing his balance.

"And if I don't want to?" Duo asked, scenarios already playing out in his head, he could manage this.

Kitty screamed again and the muscles between Duo's shoulders bunched up like liquid metal had been poured on them.

"We've got permission to get you there one was or another. And my friend there could do a lot of damage before you ever get a chance to reach her." The man warned Duo.

"Please Duo, let's just see what Kael wants." Kitty pleaded.

She knew what this was about. Duo could see it on her, hear it in her voice. She was in trouble, and anything that happened to her spilled over to him. He couldn't walk away now. Even if he was sure they weren't going to hurt her, that she could handle this. Not after what she'd done for him.

"Ok" He agreed, telling Kitty with his eyes that he knew. She nodded once, disguising it as letting her head fall to her chest.

"Move it." The man steered Duo towards the door and he let them. He'd figure this out.

OOO

"I can figure this out." Heero told the empty room. Trowa had left a little while ago, probably tired of being yelled at. But Heero's frustration was reaching boiling point. "What is your name?" He demanded of the computer screen.

The police report on Kitty Phillips was fake. It had a parking ticket and petty theft listed. No way was a woman like that getting away with drug dealing in this city. So her name couldn't be Kitty Phillips, he wouldn't find her that way.

The police report had lead him to suburbia. Duo and Kitty were not going to be at the listed address. And everything else was bull shit as well. Everything Duo had written down. The only things he had left were a description of a woman who was obviously strung out and the post its Duo had left him.

Which meant that now Heero was pouring through files on drug busts, reading every single description and trying to find one that matched Kitty Phillips. He was also coming up with nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Every "blonde" that caught his eye was linked with "male" and every "female dealer" was "red headed" or "brunette". It was like someone was working against him personally. Like someone had gone back and taken all the files that...

What if someone had taken the files? As much as he hated to admit it, internal affairs was not uncommon. It could be someone working Preventors, personally protecting Kitty Phillips, and possibly others.

Heero got on the phone quick.

"Wu Fei?" Heero barked as the man answered the phone, "I need to talk to you."

"Very well Yuy, what is it?" Wu Fei asked, his voice was just a little bumpy, he was walking.

"It had to be in person." Heero told him.

"That is fine, I was jsut walking to your office. I have finished talking to Agent Easton." Wu Fei hung up.

Heero waited impatiently to talk to Wu Fei. If he was right, they needed to move fast. Anyone who was powerful enough to do this, to have a Preventors agent in their pocket, was very, very dangerous. And Duo was caught up in the middle. There was no telling what kind of trouble Kitty Phillips could get them both into.

OOO

The room they brought him and Kitty to was barren, concrete floor, some living room furniture, a TV and some men sitting around a card table. Very mafia, but too much like a movie. Someone was watching the TV in a plush chair that swiveled. The chair turned as the men dragged Kitty forward and pushed Duo till he walked the speed they wanted.

Kael was a tall man, stretched out in a chair, with long legs like a spider, bent up and folded over one another. He had long, shaggy brown hair that danced across his shoulders and dark eyes that watched everyone. Duo had heard about him from Kitty, her supplier. But this was the first time he'd ever seen him, and he already knew he really, really didn't like the man.

"Hi Kael, real nice of you to send someone to pick me up." Kitty tried to smile up at the man. Duo stayed quiet, this really wasn't something he should stick his nose in. Even if those Bastards had broken her arm, this was her business. He'd just watch.

"Kitty you owe me." Kael tsked her. He'd just watch, no matter how much he disliked that mans voice, no matter how he spoke to Kitty, he'd just watch.

"I know, and I'll pay it back, I just need more time." Kitty pleaded. Watching, that's all Duo was doing, watching.

"Your time ran out last month Kitty." Kael shook his head as if he were really saddened. "It's not like it was back before the war, I can't just let you tack it on to next months payment." Duo ground his teeth, he could see where this was going.

"Why not? I was always good for it" Kitty protested, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes looks so bugged, darkened with circles and need.

"You're not who you were, Kitty. You never used before, just sold." Kael snapped. "My sources say you're not good for it anymore."

"I'll get it. Give me a couple of hours. If you'd just said something, I could have..." Kitty stared desperately at Kael, but with each word she seemed less and less confidant. Duo felt a twitch in his leg start to move. He needed a knife and he needed it soon.

"No Kitty. You're paying now." Kael nodded to one of his men and they started to grab Kitty, and none too gently lead her away.

"No" Duo yelled at them.

"Show him the door." Kael spat. He leaned back in his chair and rolled his shoulders as if relaxing after a long day at work.

"You're not going to hurt her." Duo told them calmly, and then he was moving. The first man went down easily, just a punch to the neck and he was gone. Duo kept moving, using his momentum to take him to meet the next man before he could get fully turned to face Duo. This man had a knife.

"Stop him. And get her out of here." Kael's voice ordered from somewhere to his left. Duo spun around, taking the knife and tripping up the man at the same time, one fluid motion. He felt light and powerful, it had been so very long since he'd done anything like this. But his body remembered. Duo let old instinct guide him.

But suddenly his body trembled and collapsed. Duo yelped out, flabbergasted as to why his body was suddenly throwing a mutiny. And then a body was pinning him and forcing all the air out of his lungs. Duo felt dizzy and spots were winking in his vision.

He could see Kitty, she was yelling, but her voice wasn't reaching him. He tried to pull his arm up, but he couldn't find it. Where had his arms gone?

"Put him in the coffin." Someone said and Duo knew that was one place he did not want to go. Even if it was named something else, the way the person said it...

Duo screamed and pushed and found his arms and his braid and then someone punched him in the kidneys. Duo got up close and personal with concrete, his face hurt, he tasted blood.

And he was about to lose-


	6. Are We Going To Die?

Disclaimer: I want to own something some day besides dvd's and anime posters, like my own series. Which should tell you that I don't own Gundam Wing.

It's a chapter explosion! I typed up Odd Man Out and decided to take a gander over here...

10-56A

Chapter 6: Are We Going To Die?

Duo was surrounded by a scream that echoed around him into a cacophony of sound that was trying to break his skull in half. He was almost sure that there were words in there somewhere, but mostly he just wanted it to stop.

His head was breaking in half, he was sure of it. The pain was like nothing he'd felt before. If someone would just shoot him and put his out of his misery, well, that would be fine. Besides that, his hips, knees and shoulders felt horrible. Like he'd been on a concrete floor, with a big pile of books on top of him. His muscles and bones ached like he'd fractured something.

On top of everything, he was hungry, tired and most of all, craving. He felt that itchy, dizzy, sick, shaky, shivery, twitchy, mess that told him his body was going through withdrawal and that he was way past the time when he should have dosed again.

"No, don't. Please don't, I'll get the money. I'll get it if I have to steal it. I'll get your money, all of it. Just don't shoot him. Don't shoot! Duo!" The words hit him as he was wondering where Kitty was and why he hadn't gotten his dose.

The panic in her voice, the urgency, the screaming, it all made his brain kick in. And though it really just made the pain worse, Duo focused enough to open his eyes. He was already trying to figure out how much effort it would take to move. Judging where he was in the room in reference to Kitty, was looking around wildly to see how many people were in the room and what kind of chance they had to get away.

But all those calculations stopped as Duo realized he was flat on his back, looking up at a man standing over him, with the barrel of a gun pointed at his face.

OOOO

"We can't simply hack into the system and investigate every person who's worked every case for the past three years." Wu Fei rubbed his forehead, probably already fighting a head ache.

"There is something horrible wrong with these reports. I've been over them with again and again looking for Kitty Phillips. And in doing so I've come across a double agent. It was good work, I'm not surprised they've gone unnoticed. But they're here." Heero gestured to the pile of files on his desk.

"Are you sure Heero?" Wu Fei felt compelled to ask one more time, pulling out his cell phone even as he did so. "I'll not make this call unless you're one hundred percent."

Heero raised an eyebrow at him, was he seriouly questioning his interpreting abilities coupled with his idetic memory?

"Right." Wu Fei sighed. "Maxwell better damn well survive this. I'm going to make him help clean up this mess."

Heero felt some tension leave his back. An internal investigation was going to be huge. And though it meant mountains of paperwork, it also meant he could justify to Preventer protocol the need for Duo to be brought in. Which meant he'd have a lot more help finding him.

Even as Wu Fei was making the call and assembling a team, calling in people from other departments, Heero started assembling photos of both Kitty and Duo for facial recognition. He couldn't have justified a search before now, not on a personal search, but with Duo and Kitty being key to this investigation... well, that meant that they needed to be found yesterday.

OOOO

Duo heard the gun go off. He watched the bullet sail towards him, watching it disappear in an instant from his sight and jerking in reaction. His spine tensed up and all his muscled screamed in protest.

He fought to move, fought to make every inch of him react, but the drugs had done their work. He couldn't make his mind accept the difference between a body that did what he wanted even before he knew what it was he wanted with this new body that didn't do anything because it was slowly dying inside.

His reaction time was gone, his eyes and mind still saw what was going on, but his hands didn't come up. Not like he'd wanted, but he did jerk forward in an attempt to curl up and make himself less of a target. Only to be stopped way too shot by a pane of glass two inches from his face.

No, it was all around him. It was on each side, under his back, down by his feet. He was encased in glass. And the bullet hadn't reached him.

Duo's heart was pounding madly, it was doing an odd dance in his chest, trying to burst from the adrenalin that was finally being pushed into his system. On the glass in front of his face was a little scuff, the tiniest of scratches that told him the glass was bullet proof and the whole incident had been a scare tactic.

"Damn straight you'll get my money woman." Kael's voice came from his left and Duo turned to look. He found Kael standing there, watching the whole thing. Kitty was on his right, being held in place by some enforcers. It was a neat little set up, and spoke to Duo of someone who was trying to compensate for something. Or maybe just one sick son of a bitch.

"But I think until you do, we'll just keep hold of your roommate here." Kael smiled and and nodded to the man standing on the glass over Duo. He looked down and met Duo's eyes, smiling sickly. Duo knew it was coming, but couldn't keep from jerking each time. The man with the gun fired five more times, emptying his clip.

Each shot sent a jolt through Duo, making him jerk. He kept waiting for that one bullet, the anticipation of pain making him tense up and start to shiver. He turned away, unable to look up at the man. There were air hols on the glass to his side and a picture finally formed in Duo's head as he saw Kitty through the hole.

"Put him in the coffin" had meant this. He was in a bullet proof glass coffin.

"I'll go now, please." Kitty was pulling against the men holding her. "Stop it, I'll get your money."

"Let her go." Kael's voice made them release their hold and Kitty caught herself on the ground with her hands. "You'll get my money Kitty, or we'll bury this coffin. Just because it's bullet proof doesn't mean we won't hurt him."

Duo felt a severe shiver then, and it wasn't just withdrawal. He heard something in Kael's voice that said he would do it. Duo swallowed hard, wishing for some water. But he turned to catch Kitty's eyes before she got up and left.

He knew that anything he said would be distorted, but Kitty only needed a clue. So he made sure he had her attention and then mouthed the words "War Buddy" and watched her right eye twitch. It was something small, not even a wink, but after years of being together Duo knew she'd understood.

Kitty was a drug dealer now, but she'd grown up street wise just like him. Neither of them was your run of the mill druggie. Maybe they'd been doing this too long though. It had caught up, and Duo had never thought that when it did that it would be this bad.

Kitty left then, scrambling on her hands and knees until she could get her legs under her and then disappearing into the dark corner of the room where a door must be. Duo let himself moan then, feeling all the hurt and all the lack of drugs in his blood. He wanted a chance to curl up and let the pain ride him, but the coffin wasn't going to allow for that. So he just lay there as still as he could and tried to keep his mind away from it. Focusing too much on the pain would just have him unconscious in a few minutes. A little disconcerting was the blood he found on the bottom of the coffin. It was smeared there from when he'd turned his head.

Giving himself a moment, Duo realized that a big part of the headache was coming from the back of his head, he really wanted to reach up a hand and feel what was going on back there, but the coffin was too tight and didn't allow that kind of room.

Distantly Duo was aware that he'd been left alone, so he pushed up on the coffin. He already knew it was locked, how could it not be, but part of him still had to check. He couldn't reach the lock pick tied into his hair, not that it would help from the inside out anyway. He didn't have that knife he'd gone after, he had nothing at all in fact. It was just him and his clothes in that coffin, which meant he couldn't do anything to help Kitty until they opened the coffin. Which would be their last mistake.

But feeling like he was now, even that little thought of vengeance felt like an overshot. He could only hope that Kitty wouldn't have too much trouble getting to Heero, because after living with her and seeing how she did business, Duo already knew that despite Kitty's promises, there was no way in hell she was going to get that jerks money.

He also hoped that Heero still wanted to help. Because without him, Duo didn't really see a good way out of this that didn't end with one or both of them killed.

OOOO

"Yuy, go the hell home." Wu Fei was standing over him, Heero had his head in his hands on the top of his desk.

"Just a little longer, the software with catch him soon." Heero mumbled to the pen he'd been staring at for twenty minutes now.

"It's working as fast as it can, I will call you as soon as we get a hit." Wu Fei pulled the chair away from his desk and Heero had to take his arms back or risk falling face first onto the floor.

"I have to be here when we get that hit. I have to find him, Wu Fei." Heero moaned, running his hands through his hair. "It's my fault that..." Wu Fei cut him off.

"It is not your fault." Wu Fei shook his head, "Maxwell has made his own decisions leading up to this situation. He should not have gotten involved with such a woman in the first place. And running out on you in such a way with her is just another in a long line of bad decisions."

"No." Heero sighed, rolling his shoulders, "I'm partly to blame as well, I could have, after the war I could have..." Heero didn't know how to say it. Didn't know how to explain how he'd just let Duo walk away because he was scared of his own feelings. Had wanted time to explore and find himself outside of all the training he'd endured. And at the time, watching Duo waving and walking away, leaving them all there watching him go, Heero had had the feeling that maybe Duo had taken it as a rejection. Had wanted to call him back, but hadn't been able to reach out.

And now look where it had all ended up. It was all this huge train wreck of a disaster and he was left searching the wreckage for Duo, hoping that he might still be there under it all. Somewhere, waiting for him to reach out and pull him back.

"Yuy, you can't hold yourself responsible for Maxwell's decisions, it..." The computer interrupted him, signaling a match and Heero all but forgot he was there, dragging himself forward in the chair to look at the screen.

There he was, on one side of the screen was a picture of Duo from that afternoon when he'd been brought in. Preventer cameras had gotten a still shot. And on the other side of the screen, was a upwards side angle of him, in some sort of facility. Heero cued the computer to give him the information and found the picture linked with the name "Duo Paden".

"What?" Heero muttered without realizing it, over his shoulder, Wu Fei was reading along. Duo Paden was listed as working at an animal shelter, backed by the government too. He'd been hiding in plain sight. And since no one had ever thought to look for his image in the system, he'd gone undetected. Of course Duo would think of this.

Heero quickly got all the information he could on Duo Paden and started to print it off.

"You're going after him then?" Wu Fei asked as the printer spat out Duo Paden's current address.

"I have to Wu Fei, he needs my help." Heero stood on sore legs. It was now the middle of the night and his whole body was protesting. But he was being driven by this need and couldn't stop now. Couldn't even consider stopping until he had Duo back in this building.

"Then I am coming as well." Wu Fei sighed, "I can not in good conscience let you go off in this condition."

As they stood, looking over the papers split between the two of them, an urgent knock came at their door. And without waiting for a welcome, Celeste came in towing someone behind her.

"What is it Cel..." Heero stopped as Kitty Phillips burst around the Preventer Agent and headed right for Heero.

"Please!" She gasped for air, she looked out of breath, her hair was in disarray and she was dirt streaked. But the most disconcerting was the blood smeared on her face and her hands.

"She found me." Celeste sighed, holding up her hands in confusion. "Came knocking on my door demanding I bring her in to see you. Apparently she couldn't wait for processing."

Heero took a step back but Kitty just barreled forward and grabbed hold of his arm.

"Please, he said to come get you! He told me to come here, and find you." Kitty looked very panicked, her eyes wide and her heart racing and pounding in the vein in her neck. "They'll kill him if I don't get the money."

That caught his attention. There was only one 'he' they could be talking about. Only one person that Kitty knew that would send her here for Heero.

"Where?" Heero demanded, "Who is going to kill him?" His own heart was doing some slamming around now, adrenalin pumping into his blood and preparing him for battle.

"Kael, Kael Voljin." Kitty looked on the verge of tears. "My supplier. It's all my fault, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, please help Duo. He's been there for me, taking care of me. I can't be the cause of his death, I can't." Kitty pleaded, almost falling to the ground. Heero caught her and handed her off to Celeste.

"Get the location from her and then get her to a hospital." Heero barked at Celeste who nodded and sat Kitty down in one of the extra chairs. Behind him Wu Fei was already typing the name into the computer and brining up a file.

"Here he is, I'll... wait." Wu Fei was printing out pages now, but staring at the screen oddly. Without a word he started typing again, frustrating Heero. Didn't he see the need here? They had to leave now, had to leave before...

"I think we just found our mole. I should say moles." Wu Fei mutter, pushing away from the desk and letting Heero take a look.

On the screen in front of him was a picture of Kael Voljin, and next to it were three separate agent files, all linked to one case. One case that was classified. And all three agents worked in filing. Down the screen a list had started and hand't stopped yet. And Heero was looking at every case file he'd pulled on drug busts. All of them covered by at least one of the three listed agents.

Heero cursed under his breath. Behind him Celeste held up a piece of paper. "Here's your address." She let Heero take it and then took Kitty out of the room.

"Get this to IA, but we have to go now." Heero snapped at Wu Fei.

Wu Fei nodded and handed off the printed summery of Kael Voljin's file, "Hurry. I don't like this man, there's a time limit on how long he keeps hostages alive. And we're already well into it."


End file.
